In this sermon, the speaker discusses the hunger and thirst for God that will characterize the future. He mentions specific instances where he has witnessed this hunger, such as in his Thursday night group and at a college conference. The speaker emphasizes that our time on earth is a preparation for the future and encourages the audience to focus on their eternal destination. He also mentions passages from the Bible that describe the Millennium, a time when the IQ of all people will be elevated and there will be no more suffering or ignorance. The speaker concludes by highlighting the difference between the hope of the Church, which is to be caught up to meet the Lord in the air, and the hope for the earth during the Millennium.

How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord, Is laid for your faith in His excellent Word! But more can He say than to you He hath said, To you who for refuge to Jesus hath fled. Fear not, I am with you. Have you heard about the Millennium? Unless you've been around Christian circles, you might think that we're talking about a computer operating system or an event in some historical timeline. Even if you are a Christian, you may not completely understand what we mean by Millennium unless you're familiar with the 20th chapter of Revelation. And if you are acquainted with this passage, then you probably know that not all believers agree on the interpretation of this chapter. In order to give us a better understanding of the Millennium, what it means to us, and how it fits into the picture of prophecy, Dr. McGee is going to take us to the Old Testament book of Isaiah. By using Isaiah's prophecies, Dr. McGee will give us an overview of the Millennium, what, where, when, how, who. The late Dr. McGee gave this sermon at the historic Church of the Open Door in downtown Los Angeles in 1963 during his 21 year pastorate. You may find that some of his illustrations seem somewhat dated, but the truths of God's word are always timeless. Now let's go to the Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, bless your word as it goes forth. May it penetrate the hearts and minds of all who are listening. In Jesus' name, amen. The Millennium, where do you get the word to begin with? It's like several other important words that are important and essential today, but they are actually not Bible words. Millennium, as such, does not appear in the Bible. That is, the word does not, but that which means Millennium does appear. The word Millennium comes from two Latin words, mille, meaning 1,000, annus, meaning year. And Millennium is 1,000 years. That is what the word Millennium means. Now in the Greek, and I checked this again yesterday, it's kiliah. Kiliah means in the Greek 1,000. And sometimes you hear the term used by theologians, and they're always trying to come up with a word that most people don't know what they're talking about. They talk about kiliism. Well, when you talk about kiliism and millennialism, you're talking about the same thing. They both mean 1,000 years, and it has to do with the 1,000-year reign of Christ here upon this earth that is mentioned in the book of Revelation in chapter 20. And chapter 20 is the only place that the 1,000 years appears. It occurs there six times, however, but the great theme of the 1,000 years, of the kingdom that's coming on the earth, it is a subject of scripture. And actually the Millennium is merely one phase of God's eternal kingdom. That is what Dr. Peters has called the theocratic kingdom. And I like that word so much better, that the Millennium is just one phase in God's program. Actually, everything that's happened in history that's happening today will happen in the future is all part of God's program in setting up his kingdom here upon this earth, if you please. Now, the Millennium is merely one feature or one phase of God's eternal kingdom. It's a special dispensation that is yet future. Now, that kingdom will come to an end, that is the Millennial kingdom, and the eternal kingdom begins. And that is stated clearly in scripture. Over in the 15th chapter of 1 Corinthians, and I'd like to read this because this is very important. Paul gives here the order of events, beginning with the resurrection of Christ. Then he says those that are Christ's will be raised at his coming, each man in his own order. Christ the firstfruits, afterward they that are Christ's at his coming. Then after that, then cometh the end. End of what? The world? No. The Bible does not teach the end of the world. This world that we live on will not come to an end. It's going into eternity. Now, it's to be renovated, made new, but it's going into eternity. Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God. There does come a time when this 1,000-year reign will be delivered up to God. Even the Father, when he shall have put down all rule, all authority and power, for he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet. Now Christ is coming into this world someday, and he'll come in with great judgment. He will set up the 1,000-year reign here upon this earth. And during that 1,000-year reign, he'll accomplish a purpose, as he's accomplishing today. Today he's calling a people out of this world to himself. During the millennial reign, he's going to bring this earth under his rule. He'll rule them with a rod of iron. He'll dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. That's going to be a time when he's going to rule arbitrarily upon this earth. Now, let me make this very clear to you. We have not yet seen a real dictator rule. You wait till he rules. When he rules on this earth, a bird won't even cheat. A rooster won't crow, and a man won't open his mouth without he gets his permission. That will be a time when his will will be done on this earth. And my friend, even the millennium would be a hell for any man who's in rebellion against God. And there'll be some in rebellion. We're told in Scripture, not in Isaiah, the Scriptures, that rebellion breaks out during the millennium. He judges it immediately. Because he's going to bring this earth back in under the rule of God. That is God's purpose. Now, let me read on here. For he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death, for he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it's manifest that he is accepted which did put all things under him. And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all. Now, what does that mean? It means simply this. That the Lord Jesus will come to this earth, reign one thousand years, bring this earth back under the rule of God. When that is accomplished, I take it that he returns back to his place in the Godhead. And this earth then will become what God intended for it to be throughout the eternal ages of the future. Now, that is the picture that the scripture presents. Now, all the way through the Old Testament and especially in the prophet, this kingdom, this one thousand year reign of Christ on the earth is set before us. In fact, there is more scripture, will you hear me? There's more scripture on this subject than any other subject in the Bible. This kingdom is the subject of more scripture than anything else. That may surprise you, but that happens to be true. The prophets had more to say on this subject. This was their theme song. They sound like a record that's got stuff. They just keep saying over and over, a kingdom is coming, a king is coming, and there will be great blessing on this earth. Now, the prophets spoke of it and that it was coming. Where you and I are today, it's still future. The conditions predicted have never been fulfilled and they're not fulfilled yet. They're not even being fulfilled in the Rose Bowl. I don't think you'll have the traffic jam out in Pasadena where I live when the millennium is going on. You can't build a kingdom with all that traffic, my friend. You are not going to have traffic during the millennium like that. Now, the kingdom of God will not be established by man's effort, man's ability. The church is not building a kingdom today, yet it is geared into a program that will see the coming of the kingdom. But it's not our business today to build a kingdom. We're not in that business. And that's one reason that I'm thankful today that I'm out of the denomination I was raised in, yet I do have an attachment for that denomination. I used to go to meetings and there are always brethren building the kingdom. And you ought to think the cheap little chicken coop that we built, and yet we were always talking about we were building the kingdom. My friend, when God's ready to set up his kingdom, he won't need any church. In fact, he's going to remove his true church out of the world before he establishes his kingdom here upon this earth. And that is his plan, that is his program, if you please. Now, the kingdom that we're looking at today will confine what we have to say to what Isaiah had to say on the subject. And believe me, he had a great deal to say about it. Now, this kingdom, I'd have you understand, is the same that when you come to the New Testament, it's called the kingdom of heaven. That was the message John the Baptist began with. He says the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Repent. When the Lord Jesus began his ministry, he said the same thing. Now, neither one explained it. And, you know, that seems to indicate to me that the only ones that miss this are theologians and seminaries today that don't seem to know what's happening in this world, to tell the truth. But some of the theologians don't seem to... They try to make something very obtuse, something esoteric out of the kingdom of heaven. When you ask one of them what the kingdom of heaven is, he bats his eyes and you think he's going off into a trance and that this is something that only he and his little clique know. May I say to you that the common people who heard John the Baptist and the Lord Jesus understood what they were talking about. And the thing they were talking about is just what the Old Testament had been talking about, the millennial kingdom coming on the earth. The kingdom of heaven is just simply this, the rule of the heavens over the world, over the earth. That's the kingdom of heaven. When heaven rules over this earth on which we live, you will have the kingdom of heaven conditioned. Now, look, I had to go to seminary to learn that, but that's all it means. And it's a shame to have to spend years in seminary and just make that discovery, that the reign of the heavens over the earth is all the kingdom of heaven can possibly mean. You've got to have a Ph.D. or a Ph.D. to miss that one. The common people in Christ, they understood it. Theologians today miss that simple thing that the kingdom of heaven is the reign of the heaven over this earth. And that's exactly what they were talking about when they mentioned that, when both John the Baptist and our Lord mentioned it. Now, it will be the time when there is the full manifestation of the glory, the power, and the will of God over this earth. And all agree on this now, that it's not in evidence today. You will not have hospitals, you will not have graveyards, you will not have the suffering, broken hearts and lives when he's reigning on this earth. And it's an insult to my Lord today to say that the kingdom of heaven is being built today and is in existence on this earth. If when he's reigning, you won't have the tragedy that exists in this world today. Now, we of course ask the question, why must we have that? I think God has to vindicate himself. And why is it today that the earth is in the condition? Why isn't God reigning on this earth today? Well, may I say Isaiah tells us how it all began. This is where sin began, and Isaiah deals with this subject. And this afternoon, we can only touch it briefly. Over in the 14th chapter of Isaiah, verse 12, he tells about the fall of God's pious creature, and that this creature led a rebellion against God that set up a kingdom that was opposed to God. And here is the revelation concerning it. It's indeed startling indeed. Verse 12 says, How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning? How art thou cut down to the ground which did weaken the nation? Now, Isaiah goes back into the past and looks on into the future concerning this creature that's yet to be judged and brought down. And as he goes back, he looks at this rebellion that he carried out. Man's in rebellion against God. Now, God says that he's going to establish his kingdom on this earth. And his way was going to prevail someday. And that's what it means. The heavens are going to rule over this world someday. It happened when Satan rebelled. Then man rebelled against God. Now, God's process by which the Lord Jesus will come to the throne, that is the establishing of the kingdom here upon this earth. And the millennial kingdom is part of the great theocratic kingdom of God. Now, I want to just hit some high points here today. The charges made against those of us who are pre-millennialists. And have you ever noticed that the difference today in eschatology, that is the difference in interpretation today of future things, is always around the millennium. Not actually around the person of Christ. It's around the millennium. There are post-millennialists. They're dead as dodo birds, however. Two world wars and a worldwide depression and an atomic bomb has put the post-millennialists out of business. And there has come up today a new group known as amillennialists. They claim they go way back, but they're pretty new if you ask me. They were not very much in seminary. Very much when I started in the ministry time I got to seminary, they were very much in evidence at that time. And I was taught the amillennial position in seminary. That's the reason I'm a pre-millennialist because I studied the amillennial position in seminary. And it's all the, like one man came up to Dr. Bieber and this was years ago, he says, Dr. Bieber, I'm not a post-millennialist and I'm not a pre-millennialist. And Dr. Bieber looked at him and says, that's preposterous. And that's the amillennial position. To my judgment it is the preposterous position. But there are these three today. Now the amillennialists, it makes the charge against those of us that are pre-millennial, that we believe in only a materialistic kingdom with physical blessings that's coming. In fact, Dr. Oswald Ellis of Westminster Seminary has said that what we believe in is a worldly kingdom. That is actually not true. And I want to confine our answers today just to Isaiah. Here are some of the things that Isaiah says about the kingdom that is yet to come. And I think probably you'd like to have these scriptures. Here are some of the spiritual blessings of the millennium. Now let's turn to these scriptures if you don't mind. First, to the second chapter of Isaiah, verse four. And this is one of those wonderful passages of scripture. He shall judge among the nation and shall rebuke many people. They shall beat their swords into plowshares, their spears into pruning hooks. Nations shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. That will not be true till the millennium. But the millennium is going to be the first time of world peace on this earth. And until then, you better keep your powder dry. But there will be peace on this earth. And that peace will come when the prince of peace rules on this earth. In that day you can beat your swords into plowshares. That's a great spiritual blessing that is yet in the future. Now just turn over and notice the joy that's to be on this earth during the millennium. In chapter four, verses three and four. It shall come to pass that he that is left in Zion, he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even everyone that's written among the living in Jerusalem. And by the way, holiness is one of the things also that characterizes the millennium. There are holiness movements today and people who say they're holy. Old Brother Taylor in Pasadena years ago, he was a retired Methodist preacher, had a little goat. He used to attend my church out there and he said, Brother McGee says, I want you to know I'm not a critic. I've been down to the altar at Amy McPherson's place one dozen times, but I'm here to make a comment to you. He says, I want you to know that there's only one thing that the holiness movement lacks. That's holiness. He says, that's all in the world it lacks, is holiness. And that today is actually my viewpoint of the holiness movement. Every time you see a preacher gets involved, what is he generally? Nine out of 10 times he's a Pentecostal priest and yet they are the ones that go for holiness today. Now my friend, let's not beat around the bush about these things. We're not going to see holiness on this earth until Jesus Christ rules. And believe me, it's going to be holy when he's ruling on this earth. Now, he not only mentions that, but we're also told here that when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof with the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning. And the Lord will create upon Zion, create upon every dwelling place of Mount Zion and upon her assemblies a cloud and smoke by day and a shining of a flame of fire by night for upon all the glory shall be a defense. And by the way, glory is another one. We don't have it. Yes, we do. There it is. It's mentioned here. And I started out looking for joy and I haven't even found it here yet. But it's here somewhere, I can assure you. Let me turn to the other passage that we give. Well, no wonder we didn't find joy. We're looking in a wrong place. Let's turn to the 12th chapter and we'll find it there. You have to find joy in the right place. Verse 3, chapter 12. Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation and in that day, and that day in Isaiah and all the prophets is referring to the kingdom, to the millennial kingdom. In that day shall ye say praise the Lord. When you say praise the Lord in the church they open the door. In that day people won't look at you as if something's wrong. You can say praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Call upon his name. Declare his doings among the people. Make mention that his name is exalted. Sing unto the Lord for he hath done excellent things. This is known in all the earth. Joy, that's one of the things that will characterize the millennium. Now that does not characterize the world today. There's sorrow in this world. There's heartache and heartbreak. But just think being on this earth when it's all joyful and everyone filled with joy. That's one of the things that... Now I do, yes, and I've mentioned it. There is also comfort in this same chapter. Will you notice it? And in that day thou shalt say, O Lord, I will praise thee. Thou that was angry with me and thine anger is turned away and thou comfortest me. Behold, God is my salvation. I will trust and not be afraid for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song. He also has become my salvation. In the kingdom, a time when God will comfort these people, especially the nation Israel. And I'm not developing the aspect this afternoon of the place that the nation Israel will take, although we will make some mention of it. Now there is something that I have not mentioned yet that we should. There will be full knowledge in the kingdom. Today we see through a glass darkly, then face to face. And in the kingdom there will be full knowledge. Will you notice chapter 11? There shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse and a branch shall grow out of his root. The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him. The spirit of wisdom and understanding and the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. Full knowledge in that day. And also it's going to be a time of instruction. A time when men are going to go to school. Right now great many young people are going away to college, going away to school, trying to learn something. And maybe some of them will. I don't know. But this is a day when a great many people are interested in knowledge. Well there'll be great knowledge in that day. And there'll be a great deal of instruction. I'm hoping the Lord will let me teach a class, probably the kindergarten class, during the millennium down on this earth. I'd like to come down and teach down here. I enjoy that today and I think I'll enjoy it more in that day. He says this in chapter 2. And will you notice verses 2 and 3? And it shall come to pass in the last days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains and shall be exalted above the hills. All nations shall flow unto it and many people shall go up and say come ye let us go to the mountain of the Lord to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us of his ways. We will walk in his paths for out of Zion shall go forth the law, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. There'll be a great hunger and thirst then for God and to want to know about God. We're living in a day when men want to know about missiles and they want to know about electronics. But in that day it'll be a great hunger and thirst after God, wanting to know him, wanting to know his word. And I sure am looking forward to that. Every now and then I think my Thursday night group here represents a group like that. I also believe that every now and then I get in a conference. When I was up at the Campus Crusade conference that bunch of college kids. I never saw kids as alert as those young people were. And then when I was out in Flagstaff with the Indians this summer. These Indians might have just hang around and they'd let you talk for an hour and a half and they still wanted you to talk. It's amazing. That was true of these up there. You see little indications of that today. Just think what it'll be in that day. And it'll be wonderful. May I say to you I think you ought to equip yourself down here for what you're going to do over there. This is really a training place. This is merely a staging area getting ready to go over on the other side. And one of these days we're going to move over. So it's a time for that if you please. Now I want to mention just two or three passages here that have to do specially with the Millennium. And this chapter 2 that I've just read has a special feature. Now let me go over this again and call your attention to what I omitted. The word that Isaiah the son of Amos saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. And it shall come to pass in the last days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains and shall be exalted above the hills and all nations shall flow unto it. Now Jerusalem will become the capital of this earth and the kingdom. Just as Babylon is to be the capital of Antichrist Jerusalem will be the capital on the earth for the Lord Jesus Christ is the Messiah. Many people shall go and say come ye let us go up to the mountain of the Lord to the house of the God of Jacob and he'll teach us of his ways. You'll have to go there to the university in order to learn. For out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. Now God says that specifically that refers to the kingdom. He shall judge among the nations. He shall rebuke many people. This is a worldwide kingdom. Thence when they'll beat their swords into plowshares their spears into pruning hooks nations shall not lift up sword against nation neither shall they learn war anymore. Now that's one of those remarkable passages. Then there is another remarkable passage and you find that by the way in the 11th chapter. And let me just call attention here to several things in this 11th chapter. There shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse and a branch shall grow out of his root. Now the one who establishes the kingdom is never the church never an organization never a movement. The world won't grow into this. But the one is this one that is mentioned in scripture as the Messiah who is to come. And that's exactly what John the Baptist meant when he says the kingdom of heaven is at hand he meant it's in your midst and that is the Greek. The kingdom of heaven is in your midst because the king is here and you can't have a kingdom without a king. I don't know you just can't have a marriage without a bride and a bridegroom. They're just essential. The minute you say when I say I had a wedding you know immediately there was a boy and a girl there. There wouldn't have been a wedding if there hadn't been a boy and a girl there. And you can't have a kingdom without a king. The minute you say the kingdom of heaven is at hand you mean the king is there. It couldn't be otherwise, could it? You have to have a king and you have to have a kingdom. And the king had come. Now they rejected him. We're not going into that aspect we're sticking with Isaiah. But Isaiah is emphasizing the necessity of this one coming in the line of Jesse. Now he's to come out of the stem of Jesse. Why didn't he mention David? He does later on for the simple reason that when the Lord Jesus was born he was a carpenter, not a king. He came out of Jesse. Didn't he come from David? Yes, but David's line has gone down by the time he came. So the fact that he came out of Jesse Jesse was a farmer from Bethlehem. The Lord Jesus was a carpenter from Nazareth. That's the way that he was identified when he came. The stem is coming out of Jesse and a branch shall grow out of his root. Now the sevenfold spirit the fullness of the spirit God gave the spirit to him not by measure. The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him. The spirit of wisdom and understanding the spirit of counsel and might the spirit of knowledge, fear of the Lord. Now listen to this. These are the special features the person, the character and the physical facts of his kingdom. He shall make him a quick understanding in the fear of the Lord. The IQ of those in the kingdom is going to be lifted. May I give you one reason this afternoon when I make this statement I think we've gone over the hill as a nation. One of the reasons is we do not have any longer an intelligent electorate that's capable of electing the best man. He has to be a politician to appeal to people today. He's got to be able to appear on television. He may be the biggest rascal in the world but if he makes a good hit on television multitudes of people like sheep will go vote for him. We have no longer a Christian intelligent electorate. You have to have that if a democracy is to survive. And we've lost that. Now the thing that will characterize the kingdom he's going to jack up the IQ of all the people. Won't that be wonderful? There'll be no neurotic. There'll be no dumbbell. There'll be no feebleminded. There'll be no those that there'll be nobody in the class who'll have to say teacher I didn't get that would you go over it again? They get it just like that. Won't that be wonderful? I wouldn't mind having mine stepped up a little and I've got some fellows here I'd like to see theirs improved also. But now will you notice this? But with righteousness shall he judge the poor. The poor have never had a square deal yet. Have they? The politicians they talk about all of us before election then they forget us the day after election. He shall judge in righteousness for the poor man. Special interest. The labor unions. They're not for the poor anymore. The capitalists have never been for the poor. Let's face it friends. The poor man just doesn't have a chance in this world. Thank God for a king that's coming that will judge in righteousness for the poor. I don't know about you but I'm voting for Jesus. I've already voted for him. He's the one that I want to see rule on this earth. I like his platform. Here it is. With righteousness shall he judge the poor and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth. These meek folk. He says the meek are going to inherit it and they're certainly not doing it today. And he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lip shall he slay the wicked. You play that down if you want to but the word of God doesn't play it down. And he'll break them in pieces with a rod of iron. Second Psalm says. Don't play it down. The word of God is very specific. He intends to put down the wicked. He'll make no treaty with proof. He'll make no treaty with this combine of gangsters in this country. He intends to put them down. No apology to anybody. He doesn't need their vote. He doesn't need their influence. He doesn't need their help. He intends to deal with them. Thank God my friend. This earth is yet to get a square deal. And it'll never get it till he comes. That's the reason the millennium is quite a wonderful prospect for this earth. Now will you notice it says. For the meek he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lip shall he slay the wicked and righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. Those are two wonderful things. Now these are spiritual blessings. Now let's look at some physical ones. The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb and the leopard shall lie down with the kid and the calf and the young lion and the fat one together and a little child shall lead them. Apparently in the Garden of Eden there was no such thing as wild animals and domesticated animals. They were all the animals that just would walk right by Adam and he named them. Then after the fall certain became wild animals. And they have a nature, a nature that's come because of the fall. And the cow and the bear shall feed. Their young ones shall lie down together and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. A fellow came up to Dr. George Gill, the late Dr. George Gill, said to him, Dr. Gill that's ridiculous. Who ever heard of a lion that eats meat eating hay? Dr. Gill in his inimitable way said, I'll tell you what I'll do. You make a lion, I'll make him eat hay. If God made the lion and says he's going to eat hay, he'll eat hay my friend and like it. It'll be the millennium. And the sucking child shall lay on the hole of the ass and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice's den. Nothing that's poisonous on this earth. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the earth. And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse which shall stand for an end sign of the people to it shall the Gentiles seek and his rest shall be glory. Now he's going to talk about this one. Listen to him. It shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people which shall be left. This is the nation Israel. There can be no millennium until Israel is back in the land. That's one of the things. There's so many things out of socket today. The devil is in the wrong place today. He goes to and fro in this earth seeking whom he may devour. He has to be in the bottomless pit in the millennium. He's out of place today. Christ is out of place today. He's at God's right hand. He'll be on the throne of David reigning on this earth during the millennium. The church is out of place today. It's in this world. The church is to be with him in the new Jerusalem. And Israel is out of place today. Israel is scattered throughout the world and Israel must be back in the land. There'll be no millennium till everything gets in its place if you please. Now he'll set his hand the second time to recover the remnant of his people which shall be left from Assyria, Egypt, Patras, Cush, Elam, Shinar from Hamath and the islands of the sea. That includes Los Angeles. He shall set up an end sign for the nations and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. Now that is the millennium that he's talking about that's to be established on this earth. Now one more reference and it has to do with the physical characteristics and we're through. It's that wonderful 35th chapter of Isaiah. Now will you listen to this and we're through. The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice even with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it and the excellency of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the Lord and the excellency of our God. Now the desert will blossom as a rose in the millennium. The curse that's on this earth today will be removed. I thought of that again this summer out in Arizona and it's in California too, let's not blame it all on Arizona. But I drove up from Flagstaff all the way up to this new place they've got named Page at the Glen Canyon Den, Mr. Willard Starr did a picture up there with Warner Brothers they did up there, The Life of Christ, understand it's made in Moab, Utah. Now that's a desolate country, friend. You just go for miles and miles. And I said to the folk in the car, you know it would be wonderful to make this trip during the millennium, this will be a rose garden. Just think, a mile upon mile of rosy. The desert shall blossom as the rose. Now I think there's a beauty in the desert. It's a desolate, stark, almost an ugly beauty. But it's beautiful. But all that will be gone and there'll be the rose garden out there. That'll be the millennium if you please. That's not all, will you notice. He says something else here. Strengthen ye the weak hands, confirm the feeble knees. Say to them that are of a fearful heart, be strong, fear not. Behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompense. He will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened. There'll be no blind in the millennium. And the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Mr. Wagner over here won't need to bring the deaf here and translate with his hands to them. There will be no deaf in that day at all. Then shall the lame man leap as a harp. And the tongue of the dumb sing. I'll be able to sing then. I want to sing a solo for you then. And it may not be the millennium, but we'll have to listen. But I want to sing then. The tongue of the dumb sing. For in the wilderness shall waters break out and streams in the desert. Now let me drop down, this is the last verse. And the ransom of the Lord shall return. Come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. That is the millennium. That's the hope of this earth. That is not the hope of the church. The church's hope today is that one of these days we're to be caught up to meet the Lord in the air, go to a place that candidly is going to be 10,000 times more wonderful than this earth, the New Jerusalem. But won't this earth be a glorious place in that day during the millennium? I wonder today if you're on the way to the New Jerusalem what glorious things are pictured for this earth in the future. Are you on your way to the New Jerusalem? As Dr. McGee pointed out, the Christian hope isn't in the coming of the millennium, but in the rapture of the church to be caught up in the air to join Christ in the New Jerusalem. Is that your hope? If you'd like to know the way to the New Jerusalem or would like to have the hope of being in the presence of God for all eternity, then we suggest that you contact us for our salvation packet. It will provide you with the biblical teaching of God's plan of salvation for your life. To receive yours, you may call us at 1-800-65-BIBLE anytime and leave a voicemail request along with your name, address, and the call letters of this station. Today's sermon was, The Millennium, What, Where, When, How, Who? It's available on an individual cassette tape or as part of our 14-sermon series called J. Vernon McGee on Prophecy. It's also available in booklet form by the simple title, The Millennium. For ordering information on these items, you may contact one of our helpful service operators at 1-800-652-4253, Monday through Thursday, from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. Pacific Time. This week on the Through the Bible radio program, we'll continue Dr. McGee's study in the only prophetic book of the New Testament, Revelation. So be sure to listen and invite a friend to join you. If you're a student of the Bible and you enjoy digging deep into the Word of God, then you'll want to be added to our mailing list for notes and outlines. To do so, you may contact us by calling 1-800-65-BIBLE anytime, using our internet order form at www.ttb.org, or by writing to Sunday Sermon. For those in the U.S., Box 7100, Pasadena, California, 91109. Or in Canada, Box 25325, London, Ontario, N6C 6B1. Until this same time next week, this is Steve Schwetz with the prayer that God will fill you with His grace, mercy, and peace. Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe. Sin had left the crimson stain. He washed it white as snow. This program has been brought to you by the faithful friends and supporters of Through the Bible Radio Network.